St. Petersburg wants input on the Tampa Bay Rays Ballpark

The Tampa Bay Rays are getting an new ball park in St. Petersburg, but the city of St. Petersburg has some contingencies.

The small city next to Tampa Bay has hosted the Rays for years, but in order to build a new Ball park the city has set aside $600 million in public funding for the stadium.

However, the city wants to focus on ideas that are primarily designed to give them a return on their money.

Ideas such as alternate jerseys with a St. Pete logo that would be sold year round. Direct input on the stadium naming and visible placement of St. Petersburg signage inside the ballpark.

Although the final decisions on branding, the Rays are looking to have all the needed government approvals to move forward with the ballpark. This movement will keep the Rays on track for spring 2028 opening.

Tampa Bay Rays ballpark to dodge Miami Marlins stadium curse

The last Major League Baseball stadium to be built in Florida was the Miami Marlins. The Marlins stadium was opened in 2012, but has only seen 2 sold out games. The first was when it opened.

The Marlins stadium has a capacity at 37,000 seats. In 2023, the Marlins saw a 30% increase in fan attendance year over year. 2023 marked the first time the Marlins saw over 1 million fans since 2017.

At $2.4 billion, the Marlins Park has yet to be worth the dollars that were spent. Overall, the city of St. Petersburg do not want to end up like Miami; paying for a stadium with little return.